


The Man from the Desert

by chapscher



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Blood, Desert Bluffs, Desert Bluffs Community Radio, M/M, Medical, Podfic, Suicidal Tendencies, Whump, but only for some chapters, diego shoots everyone, it's like how he says hello, kevin has a jealous boyfriend, mentions of past cecearl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:10:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1768426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chapscher/pseuds/chapscher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin finds a man wandering the desert. His boyfriend, Diego, the Strexcorp CEO and head scientist, is not amused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress with irregular updates. Diego is a creation of VidenteFernandez.

Desert Bluffs Community Radio  
Talent: Kevin  
 _Welcome to Desert Bluffs_ Broadcast #43 Transcript (Segment)

* * *

 

_Good afternoon, Desert Bluffs! This is Kevin, bringing you all your news and good spirits for another gorgeous day in the Bluffs._

_Oh, I have some fantastic news. While I was on my way to the station, I saw a man wandering out in the desert and, oh blessed listeners, he is handsome. I asked him who he was and what tempted him to visit our beautiful city. He says his name is Earl and just kept saying that he “shouldn’t have left.” Well, that’s true, I suppose. I can’t imagine why anyone would leave someplace as wonderful as the Bluffs. Something odd, though. He kept calling me Cecil and reaching out for me. Strange. He also said he was thirsty and weak and needed a doctor because he “can’t even bleed anymore.” Now, that is quite a problem, so I brought him to Strexcorp Medical and will be seeing him again later today._

_If I may reiterate, listeners, this man is very handsome. He even said he loved me! And I instantly knew that I will love him back._


	2. Chapter 2

Daniel was making his weekly visit to StrexTower when he heard gunshots coming from the floor above him. There was a crash and the sound of shattering glass before a lingering silence and then a muffled shout of his name. Night Vale files in hand, he walked the flight of stairs up to Diego’s top floor office. He opened the door.

“You desired to see m-”

There was a flash of gold from across the room and another gunshot. Daniel staggered against the door frame and lightly touched the newly-made bullet hole in the middle of his neck. He would have to schedule time to mend it later; now, there were more pressing issues to deal with.

Diego was stomping and pacing across the large office, his gold pistol gripped tight in his hand as his eyes flashed angrily. The massive desk he spent his days behind was overturned, papers and wads of money scattered across the floor. He spun sharply and fired a bullet at one of the million dollar paintings that were hung around his office. For the first time since he met the CEO of Strexcorp, Daniel saw Diego’s hair –ever so slightly – mussed. Something was terribly wrong.

Daniel stood at the door patiently as Diego turned and tried to fire another round into his employee, only to be met with the sound of an empty clip. Diego let out an exasperated cry before he picked up his Nobel Prize and threw it out the massive stained glass window. It wasn’t until then that he stilled and felt the dry desert air blow against him. His black eyes slowly scanned over the window, gold glass hanging in shards around the hole the Nobel had made in the middle of the stained glass Strexcorp logo.

The two stood quietly in the now-drafty room, the only sound coming from the factories of the city below. And now that Diego had finally calmed down, Daniel could hear that the radio was on. He stepped towards it, hand outstretched to turn it off so Diego could gather himself.

“Don’t you fucking touch it,” the CEO growled, not moving or even turning his head. “Kevin’s on.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Diego stared out the window and gently slicked his hair back into place. When he turned back to Daniel, he was a CEO again; the dark furrow of his brow setting an odd twinge of dread and fear in Daniel, although he was not programmed to completely understand it.

“You called for me, Sir?” Daniel said.

“My desk fell. Pick it up for me.”

“Of course.”

Diego sat in his high back leather chair and watched Daniel carefully arrange the office. “You deal with those Night Valeians,” Diego said. “Would you call them a sentimental lot?”

“Those I have encountered seem to be quite driven by their emotions,” Daniel said as he collected the papers and wads of cash strewn all over the floor. “Those at the radio station weep often. And they take their silly religion quite seriously.”

“Yeah. So, what does love feel like… for them?”

“Love, Sir?”

“Just answer the fucking question.”

“Well,” Daniel sighed as he brought Diego’s gun cleaning kit to him. “Let’s see… Their radio host, he’s in love. When he does emotional things – like rebel in that useless way he does – he mentions his lover. How he enjoys their time together. How he doesn’t want either of them to die. Sentimental things.”

“And what if, say, his lover would fall for someone else?”

“Oh, I think that he would be quite hurt at that.”

“Elaborate,” Diego said as he took apart his gun and began cleaning it. “On ‘hurt.’ Elaborate.”

“Betrayed. He is clearly under the belief that the relationship is exclusive. And he would be jealous. With Cecil, he might even be violently jealous. But he would never hurt his lover, only the one who came between them.”

“Hmm…”

“May I ask where this line of questioning is headed? Should I make closer note of Night Valeian emotional responses? Would you like me to run tests?”

“I like the way you think, Daniel. Or rather – I like the way I programmed you to think. But no, no tests right now. I was just… I was just curious. I was listening to Kevin and…” He sighed and assembled his newly cleaned and reloaded pistol. “Never mind. Good talk.”

“Always a pleasure, Sir.”

Daniel lightly bowed his head and turned to leave, but paused when he saw Diego get up and walk to the door.

“I’m heading out. And you’re going to stay here for the day. I’ll need you to write up a report on some old city records. You can worry about Night Vale later; the helicopters have things taken care of for now.”

“What will you need me to be looking up?”

“I’m not sure yet, just stick around. If anyone calls, I’ll be at Strexcorp Medical. I need to look into something personally.”

“With all due respect, I’m not your secretary.”

Diego spun on his heel, pulled out his gun, and fired a golden bullet past Daniel’s parted lips in one seamless motion.

“Beautiful, Sir,” Daniel said, lightly touching the exit wound at the back of his head as Diego stepped into the elevator. “If I may say, you have turned your marksmanship into an art form. It’s always such a pleasure to see your technique develop.”

"Blow it out your cyborg ass,” Diego growled as the door closed between them.


	3. Chapter 3

Diego arrived at Strexcorp Medical not sure how many pedestrians he had run over on the way in. He usually was a more attentive driver, but he was distracted as he turned Kevin’s words around in his head over and over. There was blood on the hood and windshield of his gold Lamborghini. Hopefully, he didn’t hit more than five pedestrians, but no fewer than two.

As he stepped out of his car, parked strategically on the sidewalk and just a few steps from the hospital’s entrance, he was greeted by several men and women in suits, all bowing their heads and averting their eyes. He pushed past them and stormed up to the front desk.

“A man came in from the desert this morning,” Diego said bluntly to the woman behind the desk. “Where is he and who is his doctor?”

“Just a moment, sir.”

Diego pulled out his pistol and fired it, leaving a gaping hole in her cheek and exposing metal. “Now!”

"Yes, sir,” she answered, her program for a moment cutting function to a side of her face as she continued looking through the files. “He was put in the ICU for monitoring and rehydration. He’s on fluids right now.”

There were footsteps as a woman in a labcoat walked into reception. “I thought you’d come here for him,” she said. “I have security keeping him under surveillance for the time being. He was unconscious when I left his room ten minutes ago.”

“Doctor Harris,” Diego said as he holstered the pistol. “What do we know about him?”

“From what we could tell, he’s not on record for any of our facilities. We’re still looking through the hard-copies of old Desert Bluffs records, but we don’t think we’ll come up with much.”

“Then what are we looking at? I don’t trust anything that crawls out of that desert.”

“He’s not completely lucid, but he tells us that he’s from Night Vale. And looking at his clothes, that’s probably true. We’re not sure what to do with him.”

“I want to see him.”

Dr. Harris walked Diego down the winding halls towards the ICU. “We haven’t started him on the standard run of our pharmaceuticals yet. I was just about to call you and ask how to proceed.”

“That’s why I like you, Harris,” Diego said, his dark eyes focused ahead. “I don’t want him on our product yet, but I want him restrained. I’ll need to ask him a few questions. Perhaps even run a few experiments of my own.”

“We’ll expedite all tests for his case.”

“And I might want him moved to my estate so I can keep an eye on him myself.”

The steady click of Dr. Harris’ footsteps faltered for a brief moment. “Of course, prepare the arrangements for patient transport.”

“Good.”

The two approached the security guards standing outside a room in the Intensive Care Unit. Shouldering past them and into the room, Diego finally was able to look down at the man who had unknowingly caused him so much frustration for the past hour. And for just a moment he hesitated.

This man from the desert, this Earl, lay under thin hospital sheets, his breaths soft and untroubled. His skin was pale, his cheeks sunken in, and bandages were wrapped along his arms. He didn’t look like a man who could have survived in the desert in the first place, let alone strong enough to get out. But most of all, he didn’t look like someone who would dare declare his love for Kevin. Everyone knew that Diego and Kevin were involved. In fact, First Date Anniversary was created in honor of their relationship and was the most important workday in Desert Bluffs.

He approached the bed and looked down at the man, sleeping peacefully and unknowing of everything he had done already.

“Here’s all he arrived at the hospital with,” the doctor said as she brought a box with his folded clothes. “It’s a boy scout scoutmaster’s uniform from the Night Vale Council. The ID in his wallet says his name’s Earl Harlan. Thirty-one years old. From what we could tell from his uniform, the patient has had extensive training with the scouts, is fluent in Russian, and was previously active in the Night Vale community. And… Sir… we also found this.”

Dr. Harris opened the wallet and took out a small and worn photograph. It was of a man who was neither short nor tall. Neither thin nor fat. He looked out of the photograph with a coquette-like glance from his position in what looked like a tent. The man was completely nude except for a rumpled shirt he used to censor himself. On the back was written the phrase “Summer 2007.”

“Shall we move him to the disposal chamber?”

Diego shook his head. “That’s not Kevin.” He looked up at the doctor. “I don’t know who that is, but it’s not Kevin.”

“What are we going to do?”

“What am I going to do,” Diego corrected. “I want this case. We’ll keep him here for now, but we’ll have him transferred to my estate tomorrow. For right now, I’m going to send my Night Vale connection to start looking into Harlan’s medical records and how they run the boy scouts over there. He might just be the ideal specimen.”

“For what?”

Diego looked down at Earl again before glancing to the photograph still in Dr. Harris’ hand. “I’m going to find out what makes these Night Valeians tick.”


	4. Chapter 4

At first he thought he was dead. The bed and light blankets around him felt so gentle and weightless that he first thought he had finally succumbed to the void. Lying there with his eyes closed, Earl listened to the soft electric hum and distant screams he had always associated with infinite eternity. He remembered losing hope and slitting his wrists with his pocket knife, but he didn’t remember any blood seeping out of him. But not long after that, he saw his city in a mirage-like haze. And standing there to greet him was Cecil. His sweet Cecil. Just as he remembered him and, despite faltering vision, as handsome as he had always been. And Earl was able to apologize and tell Cecil he loved him. Finally.

Just as soon as everything seemed alright, Earl became aware of a dull ache in his arm. It didn’t feel like the cuts he remembered making, but more like a deep bruise. And as the pain became more and more present to him, Earl’s eyes finally fluttered open.

The room was dark compared to the sun over endless sand he had spent so long suffering in. He looked up at a ceiling for the first time in what felt like years – what could have easily been years. With blurred eyes, he looked down at the ache in his arm. An IV was shoved deep into his vein and was surrounded by a sickening greenish bruise. He reached to touch the tender and aching patch, but he couldn’t. Looking down to his other arm, he saw a thick leather strap around his wrist that pinned him down to the mattress. It was on his other wrist too.

His eyes closed again, the demand to stay conscious too much for him. Everything was still so unclear and uncertain. But when he opened his eyes again it was even darker than it was before – the small room lit by a florescent light set into the ceiling. The door opened and closed as someone came into the room.

“Cecil,” Earl smiled at the man. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But things are going to be alright now.”

The man approached him and sat down on the edge of the bed. He lovingly placed a hand over Earl’s.

“Then who are you?” Earl asked, although he wasn’t sure why. “I shouldn’t have left,” he continued. “I just thought that if I could get away, only for a little while, but that if I could get away, I could be happy. And I don’t blame you or Night Vale, this is something I had to figure out on my own. And it was selfish that I even had to.”

“You’re okay now,” the man responded.

“I just want things to be the way they were, Cecil. Seeing you at the radio station and the two of us going to the Moonlight All Nite Diner, that’s all I could ever need. Then who are you?” Earl stopped and shook his head. Why did he say that again? “I missed you.”

“I’m here now.”

Earl turned his wrist just slightly to take the other man’s hand in his. They gripped at each other - fingers interlocked the way they used to when they looked out for each other as boy scouts. The other man reached down and gently ran his fingers along the bandages that wrapped Earl’s wrists.

“I love you, Cecil,” Earl said, looking up into the familiar face. “You’re everything to me. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“I’m not Cecil.”

“Then who are you?”

“I’m Kevin,” the man smiled. “That’s the third time I’ve told you.” 

“Kevin,” Earl repeated. He tried to reach up to touch his face. “You have blood on you.”

“I know, there’s a lot of it at the radio station,” he chirped. “And I don’t want you to feel left out, but they don’t like me decorating hospital rooms like I do my radio station.”

“Unfasten the straps. I won’t hurt myself. I just want to hold you.”

“Oh no, I can’t do that,” Kevin said, a hand still slowly running over the bandages covering Earl’s sensitive arms. “Oh! But I have good news! You won’t be stuck in this horrid old room for too much longer. Diego is going to move you to a room on his estate. It will be so much fun! It’ll be like a slumber party! And, like all slumber parties, it will be productive. We’re going to work and run tests and your room isn’t even set up yet and I’m already excited!”

“Deigo?”

“Oh, right. You didn’t really meet him yet, have you? He… well,” Kevin smiled whimsically. “He’s successful… and so handsome. And he’s a scientist.”

“Yeah,” Earl mumbled, looking down to Kevin’s hand, which kept stroking his arm. “You’re so much like him.

“Hmm?”

“Cecil. You just… so much of you is him.”

“But I’m me, silly. That sort of thinking is just unproductive.”

“I know. But this Diego sounds like…”

“Oh my!” Kevin squeaked, bouncing slightly. “Are you jealous because I called Diego handsome? Oh, that is adorable!” He scooted a little closer to Earl and leaned forward to whisper low enough for only the two of them to hear. “Because I certainly think that you’re handsome as well.”

Earl smiled weakly. “Thank you.”

“I mean it,” Earl said as he slowly unwrapped the bandages on Earl’s arm. “You look like the sort of man who knows how to work hard and play hard. I like that.”

The bandages loosened and fell in a heap onto the bed. Along his arm were about a half-dozen deep slices into pale skin. They were red with newfound hydration and, as Kevin rubbed his fingertips against the wounds, they began to seep blood.

“I’m so sorry,” Earl said softly. “I never thought I would get out, let alone see you again. I thought that no matter what I would be-”

“Shh.” Kevin bowed his head and gently pressed his lips against Earl’s gently bleeding arm. Earl flinched as he felt the other man’s tongue prod at the wounds and lap at the blood that slowly began to emerge from him. Kevin’s cheeks hollowed as he sucked more blood from Earl.

Earl lay back, unable to do much more than watch. Cecil’s familiar face was there, head bowed and mouth bruising sensitive skin. Memories flashed of Cecil’s body on top of him as they nipped at each other in a quiet tent out in the desert. Earl winced as Kevin’s teeth brushed against the wound, reopening what had miraculously closed.

“You certainly have a lot of blood, don’t you, Earl?” Kevin chirped. “It’s good, but you shouldn’t bleed all of it right now, silly You want to save some for later.”

“Sorry.”

Kevin took fresh bandages from the bedside table and dressed Earl’s wounds again. Blood seeped onto the wrappings and slowly stained a deep and deeper red. He ran a long finger along his lips, catching the excess blood that was left lingering on the corners of his mouth.

“I have to go now,” Kevin said. “But I’ll see you again soon. Very soon.” He hesitated before leaning in and gently kissed Earl’s cheek.

Earl watched as the strange man got up and left him alone in his hospital room. He glanced down at the new bandages on his arm and the blood that had spilled onto the sheets.

He looked so much like Cecil.


End file.
